I really enjoyed this one. It is the first book by this author that I have read, it was well written and held my attention from the very beginning. Definitely a recommendation from me.

On the surface, Claire has it all: married to her college sweetheart, Duncan, who is a successful veterinarian, the pair live with their son, Joe, in an architect designed house in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. But things are not always as they seem. Duncan is a serial adulterer, their son Joe is on the spectrum and fixated on his obsessions, and Claire is bored and frustrated with being a housewife.

When Joe goes missing, Claire must piece together what is really going on within the confines of her family, and confront their secrets. And maybe the darkest secret of all is the one Claire is keeping from herself...

The book was well written and I had high hopes from the premise, which is exactly the kind of thriller I usually go for, but unfortunately this one fell flat for me. Duncan's character in particular is really two dimensional - even in the flashbacks to when they were young in love, we don't really get an idea of why Claire would put up with his affairs and his absolute condescension now. I found present-day Duncan such a starkly villainous character, he was almost a pantomime villain - there was nothing redeeming about him at all.

I liked that the plot switched back and forth between then and now, even if the chronology was a bit scatty and confusing at times, and I do enjoy a split narrative. But ultimately I felt that the plot could have been fleshed out more, and it was so slow that I almost gave up on a couple of occasions. There was also a ton of repetition, which I understand to an extent, but it was reaching the point of tedium in this.

The cover and the premise both infer that this is a psychological thriller, which I think is misleading. The story is slow, and lacking in pace and substance - it's mostly Claire complaining, and there is a distinct lack of thrills. I can't say too much about the ending because I don't want to spoil the big reveal, so suffice to say that I hated it so much, it would have ruined the book for me even if I'd enjoyed it up to that point - the twist uses one of my loathed tropes. I like my psychological thrillers to be rooted in realism, and the twist recast it into something else entirely.

Thank you to NetGalley, who provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm sorry it wasn't a better one - I don't like to leave negative reviews, but I really disliked this one and feel it would be disingenuous to say otherwise.

While this book was intriguing, it was not the fast paced thriller I was expecting. I would say it's more along the lines of Joyce Carol Oates, with lyrical and detailed narrative, and a touch of Gothic atmosphere. The chapters were divided "before" and "after" an event, but it takes almost the entire book before we learn what that event was. Claire is living in an unhappy marriage, with a difficult child, whom she adores. But, in typical teenage fashion, her son, Joe is pulling away from her, while her husband, Duncan, seeks attention from other women. The descriptions of the "abandoned" village and the visceral feeling you get as the author describes the fog, snow, and rain falling by Claire's cottage are beautifully evocative. While this is not my type of novel, the writing deserves four stars.

Thank you to Net Galley and Avon Books for the chance to read and review this book. I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked all the twists and turns, but I had trouble following the story line (probably just me). This book was good, but not great for me!

Claire has been secretly planning to leave her husband Duncan, when their son Joe is eighteen. Their marriage hasn’t been happy for years and he cares more about his veterinary practise than he does his family, she suspects he has been unfaithful to her several times.

Joe goes missing and the chapters alternate between before and 6 weeks after he goes missing, slowly revealing secrets and keeping the tension building!!

I did enjoy this book even though it was a slow burner and took me a while to get into it. I found the family secrets and infidelity intriguing I wanted to find out where Joe was.

For me it was a surprising ending and I had to go back a chapter to see if I had missed anything!! I think I had gotten confused with before and after chapters and wasn’t sure if I was coming or going. Definitely saved the biggest surprise until the end!!

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would as it is well written and defiantly gave me food for thought at the end.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy on exchange for a review.

I enjoy mystery’s and thrillers but found this one too disjointed and a little dull I didn’t find the characters sympathetically drawn which made it hard to care about the events. For me it was a struggle to get to the end

Terrific read! Very fast-paced. Claire is one of my favorite characters of the year. I loved all the details of the setting - the author really made me feel like I was there. I can’t wait to check out more of her books.

So I found this book a bit unjointed at first and hard to get stuck into as it seemed a bit all over the place BUT I'm glad I stayed with it and got to the end. Some really good twists and turns that you may not see coming.
Overall a slow started but worth it.

This book was not what I expected. I found myself lost a few times while reading. There are some things that seemed to take away from the book and I feel didn't really need to be there.
Claire and her husband Duncan have a very strained relationship and Claire has finally reached her breaking point after Duncan’s latest affair. Claire has decided that she will finally leave him and plans to take her son Joe with her. Joe is obsessed with metal detecting and convinced that he will find treasure on their land. Claire has found the perfect place so that she can be hidden and Joe can still be close to his dad and the land where he spends all his time. Claire decides that she must sneak away and not let Duncan know that she is leaving. Claire has packed up Joe’s room but he seems to have disappeared. Claire continues with her plan to leave and continues her search for Joe from afar in her new home. Though Joe has disappeared a few times before, Claire believes that this time is different and because Joe is 18, the police are reluctant to get involved.
The story switches between past and present Claire and Duncan and explains the issues leading up to the demise of their marriage as seen through their perspective. Though Duncan was unfaithful to Claire, he loses himself without her and his missing son Joe and ends up lashing out at the people around him.
I wasn’t thrilled with the ending but it was a surprise that I didn’t see coming.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

It is a long time since I reluctantly turned the page in a book and forced myself to concentrate. The reason being – I don’t like to abandon a book and so I persevered. I was slightly put off by the title – Magpie as I feared the text would be haunted by the bird – but in reality there were a few mentions but not many. I get the whole ‘one for sorrow’ etc, but other than that – odd title. Maybe something I missed. Also the synopsis looked as though it would be exciting.

I am so sorry to say that I found the whole thing dull. Claire lives with her husband and son in what we are told is a beautiful glass house. He is has a successful veterinary practice and her son has given up on school and is a bit of an odd ball. Not surprised living where he does! Life is not good for anybody there and the plot unfolds between Claire’s point of view and Duncan’s with the addition of Before and After sections. It all gets a bit confusing and boring especially when things are repeated several times. I didn’t care about the characters, he was charmless and she has nothing about her whatsoever. Their son is characterless, just a name to hang in the air to give Claire something to go on about. So she decides to leave her husband – and what a splendid place she decides to move to – really?

I skim-read in a few places (a very few as I think that is cheating) but I was not enthralled by the endless descriptions of the landscape, the reservoir, the weather; just give me something to get interested in. Thrilling it is not, exciting it is not – well to be fair, that is just my opinion. For which I heartily apologise Ms Draper, truly.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

~ I was given an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review, I'm not associated with the author or publisher in any way and the views expressed are completely unbiased and entirely my own. ~

My rating: 2*

'Magpie' tells the story of Claire who lives with her son and adulterous husband in a house that she hates. Exposing her husband's double life leads to unexpected consequences for the family.
I was initially intrigued by the premise and was in the mood for a twisty turny thriller as the blurb promised, but quickly realised that this wasn't it unfortunately, and I DNF'd at 40%.

Most of all I found Claire a really unlikable character. She has a quite frankly toxic attitude towards her son's obvious learning difficulties, victimising herself for the most part, and her attitude towards motherhood in general is tiresome.

I appreciate that her husband is a horrible guy, but in spite of this its honestly just really difficult to sympathise with her at all because she just wasn't well rounded enough as a character. Her stream of consciousness consists of thoughts such as: "Wife of, mother of, Mrs Henderson – is that all I am to other people? Even in this day and age, defined by my relationship to men. That’s what you get if you choose to be a full-time mother. Certainly, in this part of the county. Though choose isn’t quite how I’d put it."

I find this nonsensical since as readers we are literally given no other information about Claire as a character other than a constant stream of her describing everything she dislikes about her family and marriage. The author has literally defined the character by the things that the character hates being defined by.

I also didn't feel that there wasn't any tension present regarding by her husband's affair(s) since she seems to have known about his extramarital activities for years before the story begins and sort of confronts him in the first few pages at a dinner table scene. I think it would've been a more interesting reading experience to uncover details with Claire as she confirms her suspicions and figures out the logistics of ending her marriage, but instead we're just given various descriptions of the occasions in the past where she's found out about what he's been up to.

I appreciate a slow burner, in fact it's what unsually prefer in a story, but in between what I've already described, the narrative was bogged down by mundane details and descriptions of Claire and her family's day to day life, jobs, hobbies and belongings and suchlike, so overall I just want enjoying the way the story was told enough to want to see it through to its conclusion.

~ Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this title ~

Thank you to Sophie Draper and Avon for the ARC of MAGPIE.
The cover of MAGPIE made a promise it unfortunately didn't keep and I was left feeling rather frustrated with it. Sophie Draper is clearly an excellent writer, and the premise of the novel was very good, but in my opinion the execution let it down. The lay out of the story going backwards and forwards was very confusing, and I skimmed a lot of the writing, as good as it was, because I felt it just didn't add anything to the story. The descriptive passages were perilously close to purple prose and the ending wasn't satisfying. 3 stars because of the quality of the writing.

Claire has realised that her marriage to Duncan is over and has been for years. She can no longer put up with his serial infidelities. They have really been staying together because of their business and their son Joe. Whilst Claire hasn’t worked for years she has supported Duncan and helped develop the thriving practice he owns and works in as a respected vet. They live in a fabulous converted barn and on the surface have everything.
However Claire is planning to leave, she has rented a local cottage and is gathering things together to take with her. She just needs to find the right time to tell Joe, who now is eighteen but has troubles of his own. Just when the time seems right there is an argument and Joe disappears, it’s not the first time this has happened but everything is seems different this time.
This for me was a book of two halves. I enjoyed the first but not the second and certainly found the ending disappointing..

No no no no no. I hate books where animals are hurt, especially when it feels like its not essential - gratuitous violence towards animals is just not for me. Add a confusing storyline and horrendous characters and you've got a novel that just really isn't that impressive.

What a good twisty book. I had a good time reading this and trying to piece together what was really going on and what really happened that night. I was definitely happy with the twists they threw in there as well. Would recommend this one. Thanks NetGalley.

This book had really high hopes for me too read but I was disappointed. Especially when there's an animal featured and it gets hurt. That's one trigger that keeps me from reading it. It was slow and a little over the top for me in some parts. I feel like it could have been a great story if it had more depth to the story.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Magpie by Sophie Draper is the first novel that I've read from this author, and having few expectations going in, I found myself to be pleasantly surprised. This is a multi-faceted story that is slow to unfold, but due diligence is ultimately rewarded.

This is the story of Claire and Duncan, their son Joe, and the dissolution of a marriage. From the start, Duncan is an unlikable entity, and Claire offers a plethora of reasons to end their marriage. But sharing not only a son, but a complex past, presents a host of difficulties for the warring couple. What secrets from their joint history are keeping them so tightly bound?

While this is certainly a slow burn of a read, I believe it is worth the time, and I am intrigued enough to read more from this author in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC.

This sounds like a great book with its premise but unfortunately it’s bit executed very well.

It’s drawn out needlessly and poorly and the characters are unlikable. Usually when characters are made a certain way there are redeemable qualities but there weren’t any whatsoever in this case.

It was disappointing because I looked forward to this read but perhaps it just wasn’t for me.

Thanks very much to Netgalley and the publisher for this Arc.

I really struggled with this book. I cannot read or watch anything where animals get hurt, so I ended up skimming to miss those parts. The book was confusing going back and forth and just didn't have any suspense for me.

I liked this much better than Cuckoo, but if I had realized this was by the same author I wouldn’t have requested. I was very unpleasantly surprised by Cuckoo after hearing so many rave reviews... this was only a sliver better IMO.